Meet our athletes

I have been shooting for 2 years, after completing my beginner’s course in the autumn of 2020. I initially shot recurve for a few months and then moved to compound after a little convincing from my coach Steph Gill.

I started entering tournaments in July 2021. Some of my achievements so far include becoming National under 16 Indoor Champion and having the privilege of representing England twice – one being for the under 21s. 

I am currently a year 10 student at Denmark Road High School. My other hobbies include playing musical instruments (clarinet, saxophone and bass guitar) and taking photos of places I visit across the country. Both of my parents also shoot.

My name is Ryan and I’ve been shooting for 9 years, compound for 5 of them. My dad also enjoys shooting. I’m in year 10 at Holmleigh Park High school, where I’m taking GCSE courses in Triple Science, I-Media, History, Drama as well as English and Maths.

Some other hobbies of mine are Creative Writing which I usually do in notebooks at home, and online gaming on my laptop. Some other sports I’ve done at school are Rugby in years 7-8 and badminton on and off, usually in my PE lessons.

My journey at archery started in 2013 when I was 5 years old. Unlike most, I’ve never actually done a beginners course. I instead went to a club called Deer Park Archers: Bambies. At Bambies I learnt to shoot and aim a bow while following safety over the course of 2 years, at which point I was 7 and able to shoot normally.
My Biggest achievement is coming first in the European Commonwealth Champions Under 18s during Youth Fest and being able to shoot in the finals for Youth Fest. Some other achievements of mine are shooting for England in the indoor and outdoor nationals and winning with England against Scotland and Wales at Youth Festival. Also winning British Junior Championship Age Group Titles.

AGE: 14
POUNDAGE: 57.5
DRAW LENGTH: 27
YEAR STARTED ARCHERY: 2013
COACH: Steph + Dan Gill

https://www.worldarchery.sport/profile/22413/ella-gibson/biography

https://www.worldarchery.sport/profile/17443/phoebe-paterson-pine/biography

https://www.worldarchery.sport/profile/20299/grace-chappell/biography

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Lily has been shooting since primary school when she successfully represented her school in the Gloucestershire School Games having attended school have a go sessions organised by Xperience  Archery, doing so well she was invited by Deer Park to do a full beginners course. She started as a barebow archer but was continuously challenged by target panic and moved to compound and showed great determination to master that bow style!

Lily only started competing in late in 2021 towards the end of the outdoor season.

Her biggest achievements to date include winning both the Junior National Indoor and Outdoor Competitions in 2022 as an U14 and qualifying for the Junior Masters.  Her Coaches are Steph and Dan Gill.

She is now part of the GB Compound Prospects Development Squad! Lily’s biggest goal is to compete in the European and World Championships.

Lily is currently in Year 9 at Archway Secondary School, she enjoys playing hockey and netball for fun at school. Nicknamed – Trumpet!

Jack Palmer has been shooting for nearly 4 years, he first started with Cleve Archers in March 2019 then moved to Deer Park in September 2022. Jack shoots Bare Bow and has been entering tournaments since June 2019. Jack has made significant improvements under coach Graham Peters.

Jack’s biggest achievements in Archery to date is being sponsored by Wales Archery Specialists in 2023, winning the U14 Junior Barebow at the Junior National Outdoor Championships in 2021 and took 2^nd  place in 2022 and 2023. Then winning the Junior U14 Men’s Barebow Portsmouth round at the Junior National Indoor Championships in 2022. Jack was also ranked 4^th in the national rankings for Junior barebow in 2021. Jack’s claim to fame saw him appear on the front cover of the Archery UK magazine, Spring 2022 edition.

Jack also entered Junior Masters in 2023 after securing x5 Master Bowman classifications that year. This year he has made lots of improvement in his technique which has shown in his scores.

Jack is trying out new forms of archery including Field which he is taking part in the Winter League Championships and tried Clout archery where he was awarded with a White Tassel Badge.

Jack has become more confident in archery and cannot wait to improve and enter more competitions.

Jack is currently in year 10 at Brimham Green School, his other hobbies include motocross, air rifle shooting and football.

Sam started shooting in September 2021 having completed a beginners course at Deer Park Archers

He entered his first tournament on the 6^th February 2022 Inclusion shoot organised by Deer Park Archers

Sam thrives on competition and entered 21 competitions during 2022.

His biggest achievements to date are –

Achieving  Junior Master  Bowman Award in three consecutive weeks in June 2022

U12 Outdoor National Champion for the Bristol IV and the Metric IV in July 2022

Junior Masters Champion in September 2022 after a tense Head-to-Head!

U12 Indoor National Champion and going through to the Head to Heads, taking the silver medal in the U21 category.

School – Currently in Year 7 at The Kings School Gloucester and  really enjoyed starting at his new school in September 2022.

Hobbies – Enjoys swimming, programming and building Lego models.

Other sports – Previously played as part of the local football team and enjoyed, rugby, hockey and tennis.  However, his main focus is now archery.

Coaches – His coach is Graham Peters,  “supported by all the fab coaches at Deer Park, who have helped and encouraged me enormously over the last 17 months.”

Other stats  at Jan 2023 –  

Average Arrow – 8.75 indoor / 8.1 outdoor

2022 Match Totals – 21

2022 Match Wins – 21

Career best to date – Indoor – Portsmouth 525 / Outdoor Bristol V 1166

I started archery through a club held at my primary school by Xperience Archery, and enjoyed it so much that I completed a beginners’ course at Deer Park aged 10.

I have always shot Barebow, and by the summer of 2017 I started entering competitions as I had the opportunity to shoot for the County at the GWAS Inter-Counties.

I entered the junior indoor nationals the same year, and was very happy to come second, before becoming the U14 Outdoor National Champion in 2018.

Since then, I have continued to compete and have broken several UK records, held junior county and regional titles, been the senior county champion, as well as often being on the medal podium at the junior nationals.

More recently, I have taken part in the ArcheryGB Youth Festival where I came away with two team gold medals, and represented England at the junior indoor nationals where the Barebow team came away with the gold medal for the junior home nations.

Currently I am ranked number 2 in the UK junior ladies’ Barebow, and am looking forward to the opportunities presented by World Archery recognising Barebow, and the possibility of international competition.

At the start of 2023 I was selected to represent GB in the European Indoor Championships in Turkey. As part of my preparation for that event I shot 500 on a World Archery 40cm face, this was an Unofficial European Junior Record!

In addition, I am currently in the process of undertaking a coaching qualification, which I am sure will be incredibly rewarding.

Outside of archery, I am currently in my first year of A-levels, studying English literature, geography and chemistry.

Some of my other hobbies include reading, baking and watching sitcoms. I also really enjoy volunteering at a local Brownies unit. Along with my parents we also volunteer to support Deer Park Archers.

My coaches are Steph and Dan Gill.

I would like to thank everyone at Deer Park for all of the opportunities they have given me, the exceptional coaching, and amazing friendships; I am so grateful for you all.

John started shooting in 2014 after his son took up the sport.  After 3 years shooting Barebow Target, breaking many county records and winning the National Masters title, he switched disciplines to seek new challenges and competition in field archery and was hooked after a very wet and windy first event at Pentref in Wales,  Even though his score was less than half of the winner, he persevered and within 6 months was within 20-30 points of the Nations best!

After a further 2 years of dedication, travelling the country to attend events from Exmounth to Oban in search of qualifications scores for the GB Team, he was awarded with the opportunity to represent GB at the World Championships in Alberta, Canada in 2019.

Since then he has focussed on organising annual WA 3D events and continued to run a winter field league to let others experience field archery.

I have been doing archery since April 2017, when as a family we completed the beginners course at Deer Park Archers. Karen, my wife has stayed shooting a recurve bow and my son Kieran, also shot recurve, until very recently when he has moved onto a compound bow. 

After the beginners course I shot a recurve bow for about a year, which I used to find very frustrating, I was then given a voucher to make my own Longbow in a weekend. Once I made the Longbow and visited Wales Archery Specialists to get some arrows to match the bow, I fell in love with shooting the Longbow and have never touched my recurve since.

I have entered numerous competitions and managed to obtain my Grand Master Bowman classification in 2021 and again in 2022, also finishing 5th in the Longbow National rankings in 2022. I have entered the National Indoor Championship three times and have won the bronze medal each time. 

I enjoy helping other archers, especially new Longbow archers and I have recently started a Level 1 Coaching Course. 

My coach is Andy Cramb, but one of the great thing about Deer Park Archers are the coaches, there is always someone on hand to help anyone who needs assistance.

 I’ve been shooting for around 9 years.  I first tried archery at a have a go day run by Whitby Company of Archers whilst on holiday in Yorkshire.  Both me and my daughter Molly fell in love with the sport instantly and did our beginners course at Deer Park shortly after we got back home. I knew I wanted to shoot longbow from the very first time I shot and got my first Gary Evans Artisan bow (46lb at 28”) as soon as I’d finished my beginners course.  I now have 4 longbows, all Gary Evans bows of different draw weights, far too many arrows,  and a compound bow and recurve/barebow set up which I use as training aids for longbow archery.

I’m a level 2 coach and currently working through a UK Coaching performance coaching program with support from Archery GB.  Before archery I coached football and have L2 coaching football, L3 FA Youth Award and L2 Goalkeeping Coaching qualifications.

My other hobbies include music, I play bass guitar in a couple of bands, and shooting air rifle and pistol although not competitively.  I also enjoy watching football and cricket, and cooking and eating BBQ

My daughter Molly was a very strong recurve archer who shot for England and is hoping to return to shooting soon.

My biggest achievements in archery are winning the 2022 50+ Gents Longbow National Championship and finishing 2^nd in Gents Longbow at the 2022 National Indoor Championship – not too shabby for someone who doesn’t like shooting indoors!  I now need a bronze medal to complete the set!  Other than that, coaching archers and seeing them develop and achieve their goals is amazing.

I’ve had the pleasure and honour of coaching archers to national championship titles and place medals in both longbow and barebow, although the credit is theirs as they put in the work and shot the arrows.

My nickname – depends who you talk to, most people call me Gray, some G, and some use other names that are not so complimentary!

My coach is: myself for the most part.

My name is Riley Spencer-Nice I have been shooting for eleven years. I began participating within the sport when I was seven years old, with my grandparents who both shoot at Deer Park Archers taking me to a beginners course.

From here I began competing in the Barebow category and this allowed me to progress to a great extent, resulting in multiple Junior National champion titles within the division.

When I was eleven years old I got placed on the Archery GB pathway meaning I had to transition to the recurve category as this is what is shot at the Olympic Games. I have been involved within the national programme ever since.

Through club and national level coaching, I eventually managed to perform well on a domestic level in the senior division.

My greatest achievement to date is participating for Great Britain at an international level for the junior team. I am looking to continue to do this for the upcoming season and hopefully will make the Junior team again for the 2023 World Youth Championships in Ireland.

Outside of the Archery, I like to play other sports such as football and golf, which I have also done from a young age.

Anthony has been shooting for 10 years, starting with a beginner’s course held at a Royal Air Force station delivered by a fellow Deer Park Archers member, who also introduced him to the club as he is originally from Cirencester. Initially shooting recurve, he has recently started to try compound, in addition to but not instead of! 

He started entering tournaments organised by the RAF in 2014. He then began shooting representative matches for the RAF later that year. Over the next few seasons he also shot for the Civil Service and has held various committee positions for both archery organisations. 

Anthony is a qualified coach, intending to take the level 2 coaching qualification in the coming months. With the aim to progress his coaching and become more involved in delivering archery to wounded, injured or sick (WIS) members and veterans of the military.

He was medically retired from the RAF in 2019 and was selected to be a member of Team UK for the Invictus Games, The Hague 2020. Along with archery, he also competed in sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball (Bronze Medal). Outside of sport, his other hobbies are woodworking and walking and also enjoys, if that’s the correct term, crossfit.

His step-son also shoots recurve, when his college studies don’t get in the way.

His biggest achievements are representing Team UK at the Invictus Games, The Hague 2020, actually held in April 2022 due to the pandemic. 

He was part of a Team of 3 winning Bronze in the Open Recurve Category. He has also won the Civil Service Indoors Championships and various competitions as part of either the RAF Archery Team or Civil Service Archery Teams.

 Nickname is: Boothy

 His coaches are: RAF/Deer Park, Andy Cramb and for Team UK, Charlotte Burgess.